* Here's a recent review of a series you might like. It definitely has a comic element to it, though it is still a serious medieval fantasy. Check it out:
THE BLACKGLOOM BOUNTY
The Blackgloom Bounty is one of those rambling, picaresque fantasies...in a universe strongly resembling the 10th Century border region of present-day Northern England and Southern Scotland. The story rackets along at a tremendous pace, rather like an amusement park ride or a fiendishly complicated Dungeons and Dragons game. At the end of it you are dumped out with a spinning head and a perhaps not-quite accurate memory of everything that went on, but in no doubt that you and everyone else had a tremendously amusing ride.
There is an enormous cast of characters, rushing about, and it was all something to do with curses, stolen inheritances, a stalwart young heir hidden away, a feisty wench, brave warriors, secret tombs, ghosts, wicked noblemen, spells and shape-changing, magic stones and a treasure of wonderful wealth, a sea-monster and then...well, the review would be as long as the book itself if I attempted to do even a short recapitulation. And it wouldn't be anywhere near as amusing.
When young Daynin and his grandfather find a curiously carved stone while plowing their field, they have little idea that it is the legendary Scythian Stone but a wandering magician named Kruzurk Makshare does and with a few brisk preliminaries, Daynin is off and running on the adventure of his life, to find and liberate an enormous treasure, and then to keep hold of it.
The author has concocted an intricate yarn, briskly paced, and in a writing style which frequently sparkles. He also has an ear for conversation... This is the first volume of a series, and a worthwhile read for any devotee of the fantasy-adventure genre.
(Review by Sgt. Mom who is a freelance writer blogging at The Daily Brief.)
* Posted by the author with permission.
posted 2 years ago. ( reply )
